Phelps Takes 100m Butterfly in Charlotte

5/16/2014

The most decorated Olympian of all-time, Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.), wrapped up his second meet of the season with a win in the 100-meter butterfly on Friday at the Arena Grand Prix at Charlotte.

Phelps was victorious with a time of 52.13 seconds, beating Belarus’ Pavel Sankovich’s 52.72 effort and Singapore’s Joseph Schooling’s third-place time of 52.95.

Three double winners also highlighted the second day of competition – Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill.), U.S. Olympian Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu.

The meet continues through Sunday with prelims at 9 a.m. EST followed by finals at 6 p.m.

Hardy won the women’s 100m breaststroke and the 50m breaststroke with swims of 1:06.86 and 31.17 respectively. Fellow Olympian Micah Lawrence (Pflugerville, Texas) touched second in the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.58, while Emily McClellan (Delavan, Wis.) and Katie Meili (Colleyville, Texas) tied for third at 1:08.77.

Molly Hannis (Long Beach, Calif.) took second in the 50m breaststroke in 31.24, and Lawrence swam for third in 31.36.

Hosszu won her 200m free in 1:56.30 and handily took the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:37.85. Olympic medalist Allison Schmitt (Canton, Mich.) touched second in the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:56.41, and Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa.) took third in 1:59.64. Becca Mann (Homer Glen, Ill.) finished second in the 400m IM in 4:42.29, and Elizabeth Beisel (Saunderstown, R.I.) touched third in 4:44.45.

Alexandrov won the men’s 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:01.48, beating Brad Craig’s (Midland, Mich.) 1:02.25 finish and the third-place time of 1:02.72 put up by Brendan McHugh (Sicklerville, N.J).

Alexandrov’s second win was in the men’s 50m breaststroke, swimming a 28.01 over McHugh’s second-place finish of 28.31 and Craig’s 28.72.

Dwyer won the men’s 200m freestyle with a swim of 1:47.86. Matt McLean (Sterling, Va.) took second in 1:48.73, and Denmark’s Anders Lie Nielsen touched third with a 1:49.88.

Kalisz handily won the men’s 400m individual medley in 4:16.38. Olympic gold medalist Tyler Clary (Riverside, Calif.) took second in 4:19.57, and Andrew Seliskar (McLean, Va.) touched third in 4:19.72.

In other races, international swimmers did well with Belarus’ Sveta Khakhlova winning the women’s 50m backstroke in 26.68 followed by Ali Deloof (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) with 28.71 and Kathleen Baker’s (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 28.93.

Japan’s Junya Koga won the 50m backstroke in 25.00, with David Plummer (Oklahoma City, Okla.) taking second in 25.17 and Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) touching third in 25.79.

Universal Sports Network will televise live coverage from the Arena Grand Prix at Charlotte on Saturday at 6 p.m. EDT. Additionally, a live webcast of the entire meet will be streamed online through Sunday via usaswimming.org.

The Arena Grand Prix at Charlotte is the fifth stop of USA Swimming’s 2013-14 Arena Grand Prix Series, which provides the nation’s best swimmers six opportunities to face top-flight competition on U.S. soil. The series concludes June 19-22 with the Arena Grand Prix at Santa Clara (California).

As part of USA Swimming’s partnership with Arena, the Arena Grand Prix Series will offer swimmers the opportunity to take home prize money for top finishes in all individual Olympic-distance events. In total, $150,000 in prize money is available to be distributed over the course of the six-meet series. At each meet, $500 will be awarded for a first-place finish, $300 for second and $100 for third in all individual events. Arena is serving as the title sponsor for the Arena Grand Prix Series for the second straight season.

In addition to the prize money, swimmers will compete for a Series grand prize from BMW. For the first time in the history of the Series, BMW will give the highest-scoring eligible male and female U.S. swimmer a one-year lease of a BMW ActiveHybrid 3 Series.

Male and female overall Arena Grand Prix Series champions will be honored at the conclusion of the 2013-14 series based on the number of points accumulated throughout the six meets. Participants will be awarded points in each individual Olympic event throughout the duration of the Series (Five points for first, three for second, one point for third place).